1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk-storing disk device wherein multiple disks are stored within a casing, and the disks are selected to be driven.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-63017 (hereafter also referred to as “known document”) discloses a disk changer wherein multiple supporting members are stored within a casing. With this disk changer, disks inserted from an insertion opening in the casing are held by respective supporting members. Provided within the casing is a supporting member selecting mechanism for selecting one of the multiple supporting members and increasing the spacing between the selected supporting member and another supporting member adjacent thereto below.
With the disk changer described in the above known document, a driving unit having a turntable on an end thereof is provided within the casing, the driving unit turns on a supporting axis serving as a pivot situated at the base thereof, and pivots from a position beyond the perimeter of a disk supported by a supporting member toward the inside of the casing. The driving unit enters the space between the selected supporting member and the supporting member situated below, and the disk held by the selected supporting member is clamped to the turntable.
With this type of disk device, various types of motive force transporting paths are necessary, such as motive force for turning the driving unit, motive force for moving the supporting members vertically with the supporting member selecting mechanism, motive force for carrying disks in the casing from the insertion opening and carrying disks out of the casing from the insertion opening, and so forth.
With the disk changer disclosed in the known document, motors serving as the power sources of each of the motive forces, and switchover mechanisms for switching the motive power of the motors, are primarily disposed in a concentrated manner on the base face of the casing. However, such types of switchover mechanisms for performing various actions such as turning of driving units, supporting member selection with the supporting member selecting mechanism, and so forth, require a great number of mechanism components, gears, and so forth. Disposing such motors, mechanism components, gears, and so forth, in a concentrated manner on the base face of the casing requires a wide placement space for the mechanisms on the base face of the casing.
In this case, moving a supporting member supporting a disk to a position close to the base face of the casing at the time of selection operations may lead to the supporting member or the disk colliding with the mechanisms, and accordingly the movement range in the downward direction is restricted. Accordingly, the number of supporting members which can be disposed within the casing is restricted, so that either the number of disks which can be stored in the casing needs to be reduced, or the vertical height of the casing needs to be increased.
Also, in the event of increasing the number of supporting members within the casing and bringing a supporting member close to the base face of the casing in the selection operation, there is a need to disperse the placement of the motors, mechanism components, gears, and so forth, on the base face of the casing, to positions away from the edge of the disk held by the supporting member. Accordingly, a wider footprint is required for the casing, and the width and depth dimensions of the casing cannot be reduced.